Chapter 617

"Merge the cases, then. Whatever."

Evenson hung up and sighed. As long as the operation didn’t get derailed, he didn’t particularly care how the paperwork was arranged. Besides, from everything Moira had told him, Luke Cage sounded like a rather interesting man.

The guy ran a bar his late wife had left behind, yet somehow he’d still managed to make a habit of getting involved with married women and unmarried women alike. The quality of his romantic entanglements might have been questionable, but in sheer volume, he was starting to give Tony Stark a run for his money.

And now Jessica Jones was mixed up with him too.

Evenson shook his head.

The man certainly had a way with women.

He decided to blame genetics and moved on.

Peggy Carter had watched him sigh and shake his head twice in under a minute. Naturally, she couldn’t resist asking.

"What happened? Is something wrong?"

"No. Nothing important."

Evenson started to leave, but Peggy followed.

"There is something I want to ask you," she said. "Do you really trust the people I’m training?"

Evenson stopped and looked back at her.

Peggy’s expression was uneasy.

"I can more or less guess what your plan is, even if you haven’t explained it outright. You want to turn these people into assets you can eventually use, maybe even weapons capable of infiltrating Hydra from the inside. Honestly, I think it’s a sound plan."

She folded her arms.

"Hydra has infiltrated SHIELD. Turning that around and infiltrating Hydra in return makes perfect sense. But there’s one problem."

Peggy’s gaze drifted toward the training grounds.

"Do you really think you can make it work?"

Evenson smiled.

"You think I’m going to fail?"

"I know you’re confident."

Peggy sighed.

"But these aren’t ordinary Hydra operatives. The fact that they were selected for this program means they were chosen carefully. They’re stronger and better trained than ordinary people, and their loyalty to Hydra is absolute."

She turned back to him.

"Breaking that kind of loyalty is already difficult. Breaking it across an entire group is another matter. All it takes is one person to betray the rest, and the entire operation collapses. Worse, Hydra could turn the infiltrators against us."

"Absolute loyalty?"

Evenson’s smile widened.

"That’s exactly why it’s valuable."

Peggy frowned.

Evenson wasn’t worried in the slightest.

A Warlock knew better than most what loyalty looked like, what betrayal looked like, and, more importantly, how easily the two could be twisted.

"Peggy, where do you think their absolute loyalty came from?" he asked. "You think they spent hours staring at some flashing screen with tape over their eyes while someone beat propaganda into their skulls?"

"Those would be the most primitive methods," Peggy said. She glanced uneasily toward the training area again. "They probably went through something more sophisticated."

She paused.

Then she gave the answer a name.

"Belief."

"Exactly."

Evenson nodded.

"These people come from Hydra’s middle ranks. Some of them were practically born into it. They grew up hearing the same ideas repeated over and over until those ideas became the foundation of their entire worldview."

He gestured toward the trainees.

"They genuinely believe Hydra isn’t destroying the world. They believe it’s saving it. They believe Hydra will eventually reshape the world into a utopia, an ideal society."

Peggy remained silent.

"They’ve been immersed in that grand mission for so long that it’s become almost religious. Their lives are built around false identities, secret work, and activities hidden from the outside world. That secrecy feeds their sense of importance."

Evenson’s voice grew more animated.

"And when everyone else condemns Hydra, they don’t see themselves as villains. They see everyone else as fools and cowards. Ordinary people are simply too ignorant to understand what truly great men are trying to accomplish."

He gave a faint, humorless smile.

"It even gives them a sense of martyrdom. In their minds, they’re suffering on behalf of humanity. They’re carrying a burden no one else is noble enough to understand."

"For people like that, power doesn’t matter. Money doesn’t matter. They believe they’ve devoted themselves to something greater than either."

"I understand all that."

Peggy waved a hand impatiently.

"What I want to know is how you plan to change them."

"Change them?"

Evenson raised an eyebrow.

"I don’t."

Peggy stared at him.

"Loyalty and noble ideals are wonderful things. Destroying them would be a waste."

His grin sharpened.

"I’m going to make those ideals stronger."

"I’m going to give them something greater to believe in. Something more profound. More meaningful."

He placed a hand against his chest, suddenly speaking with theatrical intensity.

"A greater sense of purpose. A deeper mystery. A cause worth suffering for."

Peggy’s expression slowly flattened.

"When they hear it, I want them to look back at Hydra and realize its ideals were nothing more than childish games."

He spread his hands.

"Two tiny insects fighting in a jar over a single scrap of food, convinced their little struggle means something."

Peggy opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

She couldn’t deny that the logic itself made sense.

"But can you actually do that?"

"Of course."

Evenson shrugged.

"I planned for this from the beginning."

What’s so difficult about ideals?

He had spent his entire life fighting enemies who wanted to tear the world apart. He had paid for the privilege with everything he had. He was the last line standing between the world and the things that wanted to destroy it.

And these people thought Hydra was the ultimate expression of sacrifice and purpose?

Fine.

He would simply give them a larger cause.

A higher purpose.

A grander sacrifice.

I’m the one protecting this world.

I’ve spent my entire life fighting the enemies who would destroy it.

I sacrificed everything to keep this world standing.

What exactly have you sacrificed?

Just thinking about the speech made Evenson grin.

There was no way those people would hear that and remain unaffected.

"You can stop worrying about it," he told Peggy, giving her shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Besides, I never intended to turn all five hundred of them."

Peggy blinked.

"In fact, I’d consider it a success if one in five survives to the end."

His smile never wavered.

"Some of the others probably won’t even know what killed them."

"I see."

Peggy felt a little more at ease.

If the casualties were going to be that high, then there was no point worrying about whether every single trainee could be turned. The difficult ones could simply be removed from consideration.

Still...

She couldn’t help staring at Evenson.

The man usually behaved like he hadn’t taken anything seriously in his life. Yet when it came to deciding that hundreds of people might die, he could smile and make the decision without so much as blinking.

That realization was more unsettling than she cared to admit.

"Starting today, divide them into groups," Evenson said.

"Figure out who can be useful and who has no value."

He gave her shoulder another pat.

"But before you do that, I need you to find one person for me."

"Who?"

"Anyone."

Evenson’s eyes narrowed.

"I don’t care who it is. I need someone who’s afraid of dying, but also volatile and prone to anger. Someone with a history of severe stress would be even better."

Peggy looked at him.

"Find the trainee who fits those conditions best."

A faint smile touched Evenson’s lips.

"I’ll handle everything after that."